Strangers on a Train

Guy Haines and Charles Anthony Bruno are passengers on the same train. Haines is a successful architect in the midst of a divorce. Bruno is a mysterious smooth-talker who makes a sadistic proposal: he'll murder Haines's wife if Haines will murder Bruno's father. As Bruno carries out his twisted plan, Guy finds himself trapped in Highsmith's perilous world, where, under the right circumstances, ordinary people are capable of extraordinary crimes.

An inspiration for Alfred Hitchcock's classic 1951 film, Strangers on a Train, the novel launched Highsmith's prolific career, proving her a master at depicting the unsettling forces that tremble beneath the surface of everyday life.